US Treasury Secretary Mr John Snow warned today that economic growth in much of Europe and Japan was lagging and urged a determined bid to step up the pace of expansion.
"As we look at the global economy today, it is hard to escape the conclusion that growth has been far too uneven - particularly in the largest industrial nations," Mr Snow told a conference of senior British industrialists.
He told the Confederation of British Industry's annual meeting the US economy "is now growing at a healthy pace" but the economies of most other key industrial nations were not.
"Britain has demonstrated consistent growth, but the other major world economies - particularly Japan, Germany and France - are operating well below their potential," Mr Snow said. He added that this was a burden for the global economy because weak performance in one region affects others' ability to grow.
"We must all take steps to accelerate growth, especially in those economies that are lagging," the US Treasury chief said, noting that finance chiefs from the Group of Seven - the United States, Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy and Japan - have acknowledged they need to tackle barriers to expansion.